Journal of Her Life
by a-a-a-antisocial
Summary: Nora writes about her day-to-day life in the Commonwealth on a journal, as a way to both unwind and make sure she isn't actually going crazy.
1. Chapter 1

I saw a mod that gives the SS a holotape they can write in using the Pip-Boy, and it gave me the idea to write this.

Pretend Nora has some sort of peripheral keyboard she can connect to her Pip-Boy, or speaks to it, or writes on a terminal whenever there is one handy, whatever breaks your lore less.

The work is based on a survival playthrough.

* * *

10/23/2287 8PM

My name is Nora Flynn, 26, born in September 2051. Yes, that's right; you read it right. I was born over two hundred years ago. I'm writing this journal so I can convince myself all of this is true and I'm not actually going crazy.

Just this morning I woke up in bed next to my husband, in a world completely different from this one I find myself in now. I fed my son, showered, got dressed, had breakfast, finally talked to the Vault-Tec rep who was trying to talk to me for days, and was getting ready to go to Concord with my husband. Just another normal day in my life; then an announcement came up on TV, and from one second to the next the whole atmosphere changed. Sirens, crying, screaming. People registered in the vault program were running to the vault on the hill just outside the neighborhood, people not registered were also running to the vault. The skies were very clear that day, so I could actually see how many vertibirds were flying to and fro.

My husband grabbed our son and we ran to the vault. I actually saw it from the vault elevator when the bomb dropped. We just barely escaped the shockwave, others weren't so lucky.

Now I'm here.

It doesn't feel like 210 years passed for me, I literally went to sleep in 2077 and woke up in 2287.

I still don't really understand what happened, the Vault-Tec guy said it was a decontamination pod. He told us to get in before we headed deeper into the vault.

So I get inside that thing and Nate gets into the one directly in front of mine with Shaun, and then I just pass out. Next thing I know I wake up to two strangers opening Nate's pod and trying to take Shaun from him. Nate tried to fight them off, he really did try. "I'm not giving you Shaun!" he said, yelled really. The man with the gun gave him a warning, and then he fired. I could only watch as he slumped back in his pod, blood trickling from the bullet hole in his chest. Then, I passed out again.

My husband didn't make it, they killed him. That man killed him and he took my baby.

I'm going to find him somehow, and when I do, God help him.

So now I'm here in Sanctuary, my old neighborhood. It's unrecognizable. God it's so depressing. It used to be so beautiful and bright. It even had a little playground. The children loved to play at. Shaun was going to play there someday too.

Now it's all gone, everyone is dead, the place was all looted.

But Codsworth, our butler, he was here; trimming the shrubs, of course. I don't even know how he managed to survive 210 years, and I honestly don't care at all, I've never been happier to see a robot in my life.

Together we searched the neighborhood, found nothing but insects.

By the way, when did flies grow to be the size of your head and cockroaches to be the size of your legs? Well, I'm lucky I'm not scared of bugs, I guess.

There was a house set up with crafting workbenches, I chose to set up camp here for now. Codsworth and I built myself a bed to sleep on and a water pump, since the water from the river is radioactive and not safe for drinking. I also found some vegetables, those were planted in the backyard and Codsworth is taking care of them for me.

My old house is just across the street. I could very well just stay there, but I can't even bring myself to look at it, let alone walk in.

I wonder what did they want with Shaun. Why would someone want to steal a baby? What if they killed him too? Oh God. I need to find him fast.

I don't even know where to start looking for him. I don't know how to defend myself, or how to shoot a pistol right. It should have been him. Nate should have survived, not me. He would know what to do, he would surely already be halfway to Shaun by now. HE WAS THE SOLDIER, for Christ's sake! I'm a lawyer, I'm good at winning court cases, not at surviving in whatever the hell this place has become.

I'm heading out tomorrow, Codsworth said there are people in Concord, they might be able to help me find Shaun. I would go now but I'm honestly too tired, and my head is still spinning from everything that happened.

If only I had a nice bottle of whiskey to help me sleep.

10/24/2287 6PM

It was tough falling asleep last night without Nate next to me, but I managed eventually, even if it took time.

Going to Concord this morning, I passed the Red Rocket Truck Station, and decided to check it out for loot, instead I found a dog. Just as I was about to tell it to scram, a bunch of creatures – I'm pretty sure those were some sort of giant mole rats, showed up, and they were no match for the dog, so I decided to keep him.

I checked and he's a boy; German Shepherd, pure blooded by the looks of it. Pretty young too. I don't know what to name him yet, so for now his name is Dog. He's a good boy, but something isn't adding up here; he's too docile to be a stray, well fed, his coat is clean and shiny. Unlike that dead thing by the bridge that barely resembles a dog.

He looks too out of place in here, but then again, so do I.

Anyway, I ended up never reaching concord today because one of the mole rat things bit me pretty badly and it freaked me the fuck out. I ran back to Sanctuary to look at it, fortunately it wasn't as bad as I thought, just a lot of blood. I cleaned it up as best as I could, applied a stimpak and bandaged my arm; I'm just hoping it doesn't get infected, but I'll go looking for antibiotics when I can, just in case. Speaking of antibiotics, I found a chemistry station behind one of the houses, maybe I can find out how to craft stimpaks and other things I'll surely need.

10/25/2287 8AM

I couldn't sleep and my arm had completely healed up, so there was really no reason for me to stay in sanctuary any longer. It was about 1AM when I grabbed my bag and the dog and set off to Concord. It was about a 30-minute-long walk. When we entered Concord the dog's demeanor immediately changed, he started growling, and I heard the gunfire soon after, along with something that sounded weirdly like thunder.

Raiders. Outside and inside of the Museum, they were trying to get to a group of settlers who had holed up in there, I arrived just in time. It wasn't hard taking out the raiders outside, it being dark made it really easy to sneak up to them and the dog helped by distracting.

The ones inside, not so much. I got shot in the shoulder and another guy managed to sneak up on me with a tire iron; but at least I survived, even if my vision is still hazy.

There were two men almost through the door when I got to them, if I took a minute longer all five of them would be dead. Preston Garvey said he's a Minuteman, whatever the hell that is, leading a group of settlers to safety, he's been with them since Quincy. The other four of them are Sturges, Mama Murphy and Marcy and Jun Long. Mama Murphy told me the dog's name is Dogmeat, which is likely the stupidest name I've ever heard and ever will.

There was an old suit of Power Armor there, next to crashed vertibird on the roof, and I'm lucky for it because a horrible, ungodly creature showed up, probably drawn by the sounds of gunfire. I learned it's called a Deathclaw, and while I have no idea what a Deathclaw is supposed to be, I do know that its name is entirely accurate, and dearly hope I never have to face another one. Its claws were the size of my fucking forearm.

Something really weird happened; when I first got to them inside the museum, Mama Murphy said she has "the sight" and she saw "something angry". Then the Deathclaw appeared. After Preston and I killed the rest of the raiders and the Deathclaw, she said my son is alive and that I should start looking for him in this Diamond City place. The thing is, I can't remember mentioning Shaun in conversation. She saw Sanctuary in her visions too. Is this just some crazy coincidence?

The walk back to sanctuary was peaceful, but as soon as we got there, Jun went right back to his wallowing and Marcy started complaining endlessly, I'm gonna punch her in the face. I wonder what happened back in Quincy? I thought Sturges was cool, until he asked me to build him beds.

Garvey gave me bottle caps as a thank you for saving his ass. Caps have apparently replaced dollars as currency. One of these days I'm going to have to calculate exactly how many caps is a dollar worth. He asked me to help out a settlement because he's a very busy man; I guess I'm a Minuteman now?

I've patched my left arm up for the second time in as many days, at least I don't have to wait weeks for it to heal. A stimpak will make it brand new in a matter of hours; it does have the side effect of making me extremely thirsty, but it's better than the alternative. Side note that it's not easy to clean and patch up a wound when your vision keeps getting in and out of focus.


	2. Chapter 2

28/10/2287 11PM

A lot's been done around Sanctuary in the last three days, it even kind of resembles a neighborhood now. We started by cleaning out the few houses nearest to our base that still look solid enough not to fall on our heads when we are sleeping, and making them as livable as we can.

The couches and armchairs that we salvaged were very smelly, but the cloth wasn't ripped and the stuffing was, well, stuffy. I turned that into shinny beds that didn't fall apart the second I put weight on them, all without prior knowledge, and I'm fucking proud of it.

Next we took out our sledgehammers and completely demolished the houses that were too destroyed. It generated a good amount of material that will be essential to expand our settlement, but that's for later on.

My little one-person farm now produces enough to feed the six of us and Dogmeat, with food to spare. Marcy and Jun offered to be our farmers, so Codsworth asked to come with me next time I leave. A Brahmin even showed up the other day, I wanted to kill it and have a barbecue, but nooooo, milk is more important. So now we have our own cow, whom I named Bessie, following our old pre-war cow-naming customs.

During the first night, Preston and I stayed up planning the defenses we'll be adding to Sanctuary as it grows. I'm going to mention that Mama Murphy mumbles in her sleep, and it's nothing short of creepy.

The second day Garvey and I went over the defenses again, and started crafting the first two turrets, one that now guards the entrance, just after the bridge where Garvey is too, on his own guard post. Sturges, meanwhile, has ambitious plans to expand our Settlement as more settlers arrive, taking full advantage of the huge amounts of wood and concrete we scrapped from the houses. We built and powered up a recruitment radio beacon; new faces should start appearing soon.

Today I took Codsworth and Dogmeat to the settlement Garvey said needed help. A little shitty place called Tempines Bluff. They were being shaken down for caps and supplies by raiders in the Corvega assembly plant, in Lexington; a place I thought I'd never see again. Raiders weren't the only to give us trouble there.

There were ghouls too. I'd never seen one before and kinda wish it had stayed that way; Garvey had told me about them of course, back in Concord; but it was still a huge shock because they are ugly, smelly, attack in groups and are largely unpredictable. Zombies, this is what those things were called back in my time, were really popular in movies, comics and games; but instead of radiation, zombification was usually instead caused by viral, or fungal infections. They acted pretty much the same way ferals do, with the exception that the smallest scratch from a zombie was enough to get you infected and zombiefied. Lucky me that feralism isn't infectious, I guess; because by the time we finally got rid of all of them, they had scratched and bit me all over.

I'm quickly learning Raiders aren't exactly the brightest bunch, and are always either high or drunk, or both. A particularly drunk one that, I suppose, was guarding the door to the factory's upper level shot himself in the thigh trying to shoot me, then his buddy tripped right over him, puked and passed out. Another raider though Dogmeat was a yao guai, she freaked the fuck out and fled in terror. It was pretty entertaining to watch.

I have no idea what a yao guai is, but sounds Chinese.

Shooting is getting easier. Not that I didn't know how to, I did. Learned on Nate's insistence. For my safety, he said; so he could have peace of mind while overseas, knowing that I could defend myself if I needed. Killing people, though, is not getting any easier, I don't think it'll ever get. After it was all said and done and the leader of the gang had a bullet between his eyes, I finally took the time to look around me, there were piles of corpses littering the floor; some were missing limbs and some were charred from Codsworth's flamethrower. The sight, as well as the smell of burnt meat was enough to make me lose my lunch. I'm just going to have to get used to scenes like this.

Speaking of Codsworth, I think he got bonked in the head during the gunfight. He keeps hoovering into walls, his buzzsaw goes off at random times, and he had a full conversation with a floor lamp just now. I'll just leave him be.

A while ago while resting I was messing with my Pip-boy and found out it has a built-in radio; not sure how I missed it in first place since it has 'radio' printed on the knob. It picked up two radio stations; one only plays classical music. No DJ, breaks or anything so I'm guessing it's a pre-recorded pre-war station. If anything, it makes it great to listen to when working on crafting and building. Two compositions that I definitely remember played; one was The Blue Danube, and I don't remember that name of the other one, but definitely listening to it in a cartoon.

This is making me want to listen to my favorite one, Poet and Peasant Overture by Franz von Suppé. Maybe one day.

The other radio station, called Diamond City Radio, is post-war and, obviously, based in Diamond City. Plays a really good selection; a bit outdated if you ask me, but it's impressive that they could even find music in good enough condition to be played so long after the war. The real problem is the DJ.

"You're listening to, uhh... Diamond City Radio. If... if you're listening at all, I mean."

It's fucking painful listening to this man stumbling over his words, makes me have secondhand embarrassment so bad I want to poke a hole in my eardrums.

29/10/2287 10AM

Why the hell is it so hot? It must be over 90F today, and I'm almost desperate enough to strip naked and go for a nice, refreshing swim in the river.

Now, I don't claim to be a climate expert, but it's almost November, and I remember the temperature being among the 40s and 50s this time in the year. I don't think I would like it either if it was that low when I have little protection against the cold, but I also don't like sitting on a chair and sweating.

I'm not sure it if has anything to do with the heat, but Codsworth was spinning in place a while ago; after I'm done here I'll have to ask Sturges if there's anything him or I can do to fix him.

29/10/2287 3PM

I told Garvey earlier today that I dealt with the raiders giving that settlement trouble. In return, he asked me to be the General of the Minuteman. I almost laughed in his face.

I have no idea why this jackass treats me like his Lord and Savior, or why he thinks I'll do his dirty job for him, but I can safely say that I don't give a shit about him or the Minuteman. I have many other things to worry about, like finding my son.

Garvey himself said he was the last one standing, if so, then it's his fucking job to rebuild the Minuteman, not mine. His response? "OK, then. I'll just stand here until you change your mind." Not exactly that, but pretty close. Get a fucking chair because you'll be standing there a while. Codsworth would be upset. He really respects the Minuteman, and surely would have given me an earful about it…if he wasn't singing a lullaby to a corn.

Sturges found me before I found him, he was concerned about Codsworth's behavior, who was still drunkenly waving that corn around. I explained that a raider might have damaged him in the assembly plant and that I wasn't sure what to do. The man pulled out a robot repair kit, that by the way looks like some weird rod torture device, and called him over. He stabbed him with the repair kit, Codsworth then immediately collapsed in a pile on the floor, and was up on his thruster again not even a second later. Sharp as ever; even gave me a can of water. The corn too.

Sturges gave me the spare kits he had and wrote schematics so I can make my own too. I have nothing else to do here now, so I'll head out to Diamond City.

Mama Murphy said my baby might be there. I hope that son of a bitch is there too; can't wait until I can put a bullet in his brain.

30/10/2287 10PM

Turns out it takes more time to get to Boston on foot than driving, who'd know?

I though deathclaws and ferals were the worst this wasteland can offer me. I was wrong. I was fucking wrong. First it was the scorpion. IT WAS THE SIZE OF A CAR. A FUCKING CAR. I don't even know anymore. I'm not scared of cockroaches, but I'm deathly afraid of scorpions. Terrified. So yeah, I let Dogmeat and Codsworth do the fighting while I cowered in absolute terror behind a bush. To be honest I'm even a little surprised that I didn't piss my pants.

Then it was those. Things. They called themselves Super Mutants. Big, green and ugly. If they had hair, and weren't green, I would think they're some sort of cavemen. I can only guess they're the result of some sort of experiment; there's no way radiation alone can do this to humans in only 200 years.

They had bags of what is that even? Parts of who-knows-what all mushed together in a gory mess? And here I though the way raiders display corpses like trophies was bad enough, silly little me.

There were prisoners too. Some were already dead and half eaten.

Worst of all is that I wasn't paying attention and walked right into their camp. Didn't realize what was happening until one yelled something and charged right at me with a board. Got me pretty good, I think he broke my nose. His buddies just blinked dumbly at me, and I at them, while Codsworth and Dogmeat tore him apart. Then it was over and we all scrambled for our weapons at the same time. Luckily there was just two of them. Only one of them got a chance to shoot at me before they were both dead on the ground. Still, I managed to get nicked by a bullet.

I let the settlers go; they were all as dumbfounded as I was. One of them actually cried and hugged me. They said they are from the nearby settlement of Oberland Station, and offered me a bed for the night as a thank you. From the super mutant camp, I could probably reach Diamond City in a couple hours or less, but my legs were feeling like jelly, and I did receive a blow square on the face. So I decided it would be safer if I went with them, they seemed to agree. Codsworth proudly declared he would stand guard all night and I shouldn't worry.

We killed a Brahmin and grilled the meat to celebrate. I was completely right and we should have had a barbecue back at sanctuary. I didn't work out the courage to drink the milk, but the steak is totally better.

Tomorrow morning I'll set out to Diamond City.

31/10/2287 3PM

I made it to Diamond City in one peace! Didn't think I had it in me, but turns out I'm tougher than expected.

the guards all wear repurposed baseball gear and wield baseball bats.

Arriving here was interesting. There was a crazy woman gesticulating wildly and yelling at the wall, I thought she was tripping balls or just plain crazy; but in reality she had some beef with the mayor. He apparently got fed up with her shenanigans and ordered his guards to lock her out. Naturally, we conspired together to get her back inside, which we successfully did. The mayor must have known the woman – Piper, was there because he was waiting for her with a couple of security guards. An argument ensued, and I learned that Piper runs a paper and accused the mayor of being a synth on said paper. I have no idea what a synth is, but given his reaction I take whatever it is, it's not good.

Piper and the mayor exchanged a few jabs; he threatened her some and I found out she has a kid sister. I'll admit that I was pending towards siding with him, dealing with a grown woman is a thing but when there is a child involved things change. I might want to stick around a little while in case he tries something like that again. Piper invited me to her office after the man left. I wasn't planning to, but since asking around for someone that could help me with a missing person case came to nothing, I did.

Piper's office doubles as her house, where she lives with her tween sister; it's…cozy. Reminds me of the studio I moved into after I finished college.

My first time ever living alone; no parents, siblings or roommates. I had no furniture other than a twin bed, a nightstand, a dinner table and one chair; my cabinet only had two cups, two plates and two of each cutlery. I didn't even have a mug for tea and coffee.

Eventually I got a ratty, torn couch someone replaced with a nicer one and just left by the sidewalk, and my parents old TV and radio.

All my money went towards paying $45,000 worth of student debt, which was upped to $80,000 by the time I finished Law School. Joke's on me; I could, have spent that money on booze and drugs, since the world would end not long after. Now that I think of it, I could have dropped out of college too, it's not like I could use my Law degree to ward off a crowd of ferals. It wouldn't have made a damn difference.

I didn't mean to just spill everything to Piper, it just happened. I told her how I woke in the morning of October 23rd to news that bombs had been dropped throughout the United States, and that war against China had been officially declared; told her that my husband and I barely had time to make it to Vault 111 with our infant son before our own bomb was dropped in the area I now know as the Glowing Sea. How we were promised a new life underground, and were tricked into getting into these pods that put us into cryogenic sleep for 210 years, but were awoken at some point in time so that a man could pull my baby right from my husband's arms and shoot him in the head for not being cooperative; all while I was forced to watch from my own pod without any way to intervene. How by some miracle I was able to get out of my pod alive, and now I'm after that man so I can kill him and get my son back.

No one I've met so far has cared enough to sit down and actually listen to what I have to say, they all just want to dump their problems on me. I know Piper only wants the story, but still, it felt nice to just tell someone.

She directed me to Detective Valentine's agency. I headed there full of hope that I'm finally getting somewhere on the search for my son. It was a huge let down. Detective Valentine is missing too.

This is a fucking nightmare. It has to be. I'm still at home in bed with Nate, Shaun is sleeping in his crib, and Codsworth is in the kitchen brewing the coffee to perfection, 173.5 degree Fahrenheit. The alarm is going to go off soon, and I'm going to feel really silly.

Valentine's secretary says he was investigating a case when he went missing, and was probably taken by the same people. She let me look at the case files so I can get an idea where he might be.

After this blow, I'm in dire need of a drink. Good thing there is a bar here in Diamond City. I'll rent a bedroom in here for the night, and tomorrow morning I'll set off after Valentine.


	3. Chapter 3

11/1/2287 7AM

I'm not a college student anymore. I definitely shouldn't drink like one.

11/1/2287 3PM

I just woke up now, but really wish I had died and gone to hell instead.

It looks like I'll be staying another night in the Dugout Inn after all, there's no fucking way I'm leaving like this. I'm not even getting out of this bed.

Now, I know I said this in the other entry already, but I'll reiterate here that I am not a college student and really should not be drinking vodka like it's Nuka-cola. It's true that I hadn't had a drink in a while because Shaun and all, but I feel like I died a horrible death and was brought back to life at least 10 times.

Every time I accidentally look at the light filtering through the holes on the ceiling it feels like someone is stabbing my eyeballs with a thousand incandescent needles all the way to my brain. If this is what an adult hangover feels like, then I'm giving up alcohol right away.

I don't remember much from what happened yesterday, I know I rented this room and dropped my pack here before getting a table for myself, and asking Vadim for a shot of Vodka. I'm pretty sure I cried on someone's shoulder at some point too.

Embarrassing.

I don't remember getting to my room, nor do I remember undressing and slipping into bed. For all that I know I could have drunkenly given someone a lap dance, which I have before.

Oh God. I think I'm going to be sick.

11/2/2287 6AM

My headache still hasn't totally gone away, but it's bearable now. Still, aspirin is now officially my most missed pre-war necessity. Now that I think about it I could have tried to stimpak myself, if it can mend broken bones in just a couple of hours, then it can cure my hangover too. Well, there's always next time.

I slept for 12 fucking hours. I don't remember sleeping this much since before I was pregnant with Shaun. How do they do it here in the wastes anyway? Carrying a pregnancy to term and then delivering, I mean.

For one, morning sickness must suck even more when you don't really have a choice but to eat what you have on hand, even if the smell alone will make you puke, and it's also irradiated; no maternity clothes either. It's a bit cute when the baby gets big enough for you to feel - and see - they kicking, but the novelty dies down fast, then it just kinda looks like an alien and becomes more weird than cute. Shaun was especially fond of kicking my ribs. He also liked kicking me in the bladder when it was anything else other than empty.

And what about when the baby gets too big that you just can't exist comfortably, and every position is more uncomfortable than the last and you just want them to come out already, and you also can't sleep?

What about giving birth? I don't even want to go there. I highly doubt there are any ob/gyns in the wasteland, not with a medical license at least. If there's any, they are probably just creepos that will stare at your vagina instead of actually help delivering the baby.

God how I miss holding Shaun. Playing with him, singing songs, reading a book. I miss the sound of his crying, miss giving him a bottle. I just miss him.

I miss them so much, Nate and Shaun. It feels like it just happened, but at the same time, it also feels like it's been years ago. Feels like it's so recent I'm still numb and like so long ago that the memory is hazy.

It just occurred to me that it's been 210 years. What am I really doing here? What chance do I have of finding my son when I know absolutely zero about anything and it could have happened 210 years ago? And even if I find him, and he's somehow still a 4 month old boy, what should I do next? How would I even go about keeping him safe, fed and alive? More importantly, how will I do this without my husband?

I'm such a failure. I'm sorry Nate, I'm so sorry.

11/3/2287 10AM

Today I learned about the Institute. A secluded organization that no one knows anything about.

It happened earlier today in the market, in front of everyone. A man holding his brother at gun point and being killed by Diamond City security, people reacted like it's a daily occurrence. The man killed accused his brother of being a synth, the same thing Piper is accusing the mayor of being. Now I know that synths are a creation of this Institute figure, and there's three types: one that's clearly a robot designed to somewhat resemble humans, the second type that could fool you from afar, and finally the third type that can't be told apart from a person.

Piper told me that kidnappings are commonplace here; no one knows for sure, but they are all blamed on this Institute. So the Institute kidnaps people, but it's swept under the rug, and their reasoning is "what can we do about an invisible entity?" It also makes sense that if the mayor is working for them, he'll turn a blind eye to the problem and banish – or try to - the person who is pushing the issue.

Why do I have a feeling that this Institute has something to do with my son's kidnapping? If it does, then I'm screwed and can kiss any hope of seeing my boy again goodbye.

11/5/2287 5 PM

Finally, I have a lead in my boy's kidnapping! A lot of things happened yesterday and I don't know where to begin. Piper warned me that the place I had to go to, Boston Common is a very dangerous place; people who go there don't come back, according to her. Still, she agreed to come with me for some reason. What even goes in that woman's head? "Blue don't go there it's dangerous. What? Go with you? Sure, I'll lead the way." Ah yes, she started calling me Blue, said it's because of the vault suit.

I sent Codsworth back to Sanctuary. Piper had to promise to him protect my life over all costs before he would finally leave. By the way, she was right. The trek to Park Street Station was a short, but tense one. I swear there was something trying to kill us on every corner; whether it would be ferals, muties or raiders, they were everywhere. The ferals were nastier, muties bigger and raiders better armed than any ones I've faced before. The silver lining is that I scavenged a sweet combat shotgun and a sniper rifle off two dead raiders.

Once inside the metro station, it wasn't any better. There were triggermen there, which are gangsters I guess. Fuckers all had SMGs and there were loads of them there. It was a tough fight, but at least Piper isn't useless like I thought she would be, and Dogmeat is a beast too; no wonder GSDs were used as combat dogs.

There was a vault there, 114. More people inside but we took care of them easily. Ellie's intuition was right, Nick was investigating the kidnapping of a girl by this Skinny Malone fellow, and got in serious trouble. He was being held in the vault inside a locked room, they were probably going to kill him. Mr. Valentine, by the way, he's synth. I'm a bit confused right now, while it's obvious that everyone in Diamond City hates them with a passion, Valentine is allowed a pass to live and work there, and people seem to respect and even care for him.

The girl is dead now, but so are Skinny Malone and his henchmen. And she hadn't even been kidnapped, she left with him on her own accord.

Once back in Diamond City, we went straight to business and Valentine had me recount happened that day. It wasn't nearly as easy as it was with Piper. He said my description of the man who shot Nate matched the one of a man who had stayed in Diamond City briefly, Kellogg. Mid-30s, balding, black clothing, huge scar across his face; it has to be him.

He was with a boy around 10 years old, could he be Shaun?

Valentine lead me to the house Kellogg owns, very secluded location. Both of us tried to pick the lock, but it was really strong, and there was no way we could get a spare key that late at night.

At that point we said our goodnights and went to bed with promises to get back to work first thing in the morning. I'm not sure whether or not Nick has to sleep, being a synth and all, but I was completely exhausted, and Piper didn't look much better. I didn't even change out of my jumpsuit, just took off the armor and fell asleep maybe five seconds after tucking myself in with Dogmeat by my feet.

Today I woke up feeling sick, and it was pouring rain. Everything had a slight green tint to it, Vadim said it was a radiation storm.

People that live here in the wasteland have to have a resistance to radiation that I don't. The Bobrovs and few other patrons in the inn seemed mostly unaffected by the storm, while I was feeling like it was finally my time to die.

I was informed that these radiation storms usually only last about two hours, and about two hours later the skies did begin to clear up, to my relief.

As soon as the storm was over, I did a bee-line to the mayor's office to see if a could get a copy of Kellogg's house key. McDonough's secretary, Geneva, tried to get me to talk to him to get a key. I had to try a couple of different tactics and almost resorted to the good ol' bribery, but eventually convinced her that it was important that a could search Kellogg's house in the search for my son.

Nick and Piper were already waiting by the door when I arrived with the key. After a brief search in the small house, we found a button under the desk, it opened a wall to show a hidden room. Very clever. There we found cigars, smoked by Kellogg itself; then, to my surprise, Nick declared he had worked with Dogmeat before, and that my dog could pick up Kellogg's scent from the cigars and lead us to him.

Now that our plan is settled, I'll take the rest of today off to get ready. Oh, and I bought a house. Only 2000 caps, it was almost free. I just figured that since I'm spending so much time in here anyway, might want to get settled. The Bobrovs surely will be sad they lost their best costumer and her 10 caps a day. Maybe when my house looks like an actual house, I'll even throw a housewarming party, just for Piper and Nick; after I finally have Shaun with me and all of this is dealt with.


End file.
